{"id":27058,"date":"2023-09-14T02:36:38","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T09:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27058"},"modified":"2023-09-14T02:36:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T09:36:38","slug":"a-haunting-in-venice-presents-a-new-mystery-and-plenty-of-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27058","title":{"rendered":"A HAUNTING IN VENICE Presents a New Mystery and Plenty of Atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 103 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from 20th<\/sup> Century Studios opens\nexclusively at cinemas on September 15th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There certainly is no shortage of murder\/mystery features\nbased on the work of Agatha Christie. What is a little unusual is, for all of\nher 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, filmmakers and\ntelevision producers tend to gravitate towards the same stories. Murder on\nthe Orient Express<\/em> was released in 2017 and became a box office hit that\nled to a follow-up, Death on the Nile<\/em>, only last year. But neither were\nthe first adaptations of each tale. A Haunting in Venice<\/em> finally tells a\nstory that is new to the big screen. Truth be told, this sequel doesn\u2019t alter\nthe formula dramatically from the previous pictures, but the unfamiliar source\nmaterial does add a bit of freshness to the\nproceedings.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Set after the close of World War II, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth\nBranagh) has become wary of examining various scenes involving violent death.\nHe decides to retire and live a solitary life in Venice, Italy. Or at least, as\nquiet an existence as any famous detective can hope for. Despite his best\nefforts to keep visitors at bay, old friend and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver\n(Tina Fey) manages to draw the sleuth out. Oliver tells him she\u2019s working on a\nnew project and is attending a Halloween party and s\u00e9ance at the \u201chaunted\u201d\npalazzo of famous opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). The author insists\nthat she needs Poirot\u2019s help to expose medium Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) as\na phony. Poirot relents and attends the gathering, but things take a grim turn\nwhen an attendee is murdered. With a raging storm and rising canal waters\ntrapping everyone inside the creepy home, Poirot must quickly determine who the\nkiller is.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This feature is far more intrigued by the supernatural than\nprevious entries and employs a claustrophobic and creepy vibe. Visually, it is\ndimmer, with the majority of the running time in a dark, musty locale. However,\nthat doesn\u2019t mean that it isn\u2019t wondrous to look at. There are some wonderful\nshots of Venice filled with mist and fog. Dutch tilts and extreme angles are\nused liberally to great effect, adding plenty of atmosphere and a bit of extra\ntension to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, the familiar faces of the cast (which also\nincludes Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill) are all engaging as the\nfrightened attendees. And of course, the lead character Poirot makes an\nentertaining foil for all the talk of hauntings and ghosts. He frequently\ndelivers his comments about the paranormal with amusingly blunt derision and\nadmittedly fun to see the character critique spiritualists while still getting\nan unexpected shock or two of his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One element that may still be overly familiar to viewers is\nthe sleuth\u2019s methods and the structure of the middle act of the picture. Once\nagain, Poirot interviews each subject and almost instantly determines that\nevery character has an ulterior motive for having been present at the ceremony.\nBut thankfully, the story contains a few less characters than previous tales,\nso it doesn\u2019t feel bloated. Another minor problem is that, like other Poirot\ntales, the resolution is convoluted. The fact that almost every issue raised\nduring the brief discussions with supporting characters is revisited and\nquickly resolved does come across as outlandish. Regardless, this likely has\nmore to do with the old-fashioned source material than the filmmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, some of the elements presented are too routine, but the\nmovie is very well-paced and beautifully shot. It also offers a couple of minor\nsurprises and unexpected story elements along the way that manage to keep the\nmurder\/mystery investigation from feeling too routine. In the end, using\nuntapped resources does work in its benefit. A Haunting in Venice<\/em> may\nnot provide big shocks, but will deliver a thrill and a chill to those looking\nfor some seasonal fun. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 103 minutes This film from 20th Century Studios opens exclusively at cinemas on September 15th. There certainly is no shortage of murder\/mystery features based on the work of Agatha Christie. What is a little unusual is, for all of her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, filmmakers and television producers tend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,221,461,462,463,834,3798,10271,11106,11570,11589,13877,14399,14523,22825,22930],"class_list":["post-27058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-20th-century-studios","tag-a-haunting-in-venice","tag-a-haunting-in-venice-movie-review","tag-a-haunting-in-venice-review","tag-agatha-christie","tag-camille-cottin","tag-jamie-dornan","tag-jude-hill","tag-kelly-reilly","tag-kenneth-branagh","tag-michelle-yeoh","tag-murder","tag-mystery","tag-thriller","tag-tina-fey"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}